Weber Rallies for Win

Logan, Utah -
Damian Lillard scored 20 points and Lindsey Hughey and Franklin Session had 14 each Monday evening to lead Weber State to an 82-71 victory over Cal State Fullerton in the opening game of the Basketball Travelers' Invitational Basketball Tournament in Logan, Utah.

The Wildcats improved to 6-5 while the Titans fell to 4-4 despite 21 points and 5 assists from point guard Jacques Streeter. Gerard Anderson had 14 points and Jer'Vaughn Johnson had 13 for the Titans, who have now lost their last 22 games in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum - the first 21 to host Utah State.

Session, a 6-foot-3 junior guard who previously played at Irvine Valley and Saddleback JCs in Orange County, led all rebounders with 13 including 7 on the offensive end. The Wildcats outrebounded the Titans, 46-27, while shooting 53 percent from the floor and 40 percent (10 of 25) from the 3-point line. Fullerton shot only 43 percent and made only 4 of 18 (22 percent) treys.

Weber State scored the first 5 points of the second half to erase a 39-36 Fullerton lead and the Wildcats never trailed again. They broke away from a 44-44 tie with a 7-0 run and took control with an 8-0 run over a span of almost 4 minutes to build a 64-52 advantage with 9:40 to play. Fullerton never got closer than 7 points.

Fullerton's bench scored only 11 points on 4-for-20 shooting while the Wildcats got 23 points from reserves on 8-of-11 shooting.

"I think this was another example of a long layoff affecting us," said Head Coach Bob Burton. "We had a long layoff coming off of finals and we had the same look about us when we came off of a long layoff before. Part of it is my falt for bad scheduling. I really take the blame for that.

"The other part is on our players, just not stepping up and playing.

"And credit Weber State. They came in and played great defense. They took us out of what we wanted to do offensively."

Weber State made its first five shots of the game and led from the 18:39 mark (4-2) until the final 89 seconds of the first half, when Bryce Webster tied the game at 36 with a pair of free throws. The biggest lead was 15 points at 31-16 at the 8:14 mark. But Fullerton closed out the half with a 23-5 surge. Anderson made a free throw for Fullerton's first lead at 37-36 and Streeter hit a long jumper at the buzzer for a 39-36 Fullerton lead at intermission.